Get Out of Jail Free
by areallyviolentfemme
Summary: Percy Jackson, a boy stuck in his ways, transfers to Goode after getting kicked out of his old school and meets Annabeth Chase, a strong willed girl who gives him a run for his money. Will the two allow themselves to escape reality, or will their new found connection give them to strength to face their problems head on?
1. Chapter 1

-ANNABETH-

"No way. Not happening" I hardened my face attempting not to give in to the puppy dog eyes my best friend was throwing at me.

"Annie, its just two days and its so much fun!" Thalia latched onto my arm. It was clear she wouldn't be letting up anytime soon. I sighed "Why don't you go have a super fun time with Nico and Luke and tell me all about it after then?" She groaned and flopped onto the bed next to me, "but I want to go WITH you. Thats the whole point!" I rolled my eyes and opened my laptop. "We have summer homework Thals" I pointed out. I pulled up Auto CAD in a futile attempt to get some work done.

"Annabeth. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn't finish the summer homework the week we got out." She stared at me expectantly. I looked up from my laptop and tried to reply, but I was cut short. "Don't even try to lie to me. Luke's uncle got the tickets for us for free, they have bands you'll like, its literally two days, and I already asked Frederick and he said its fine. You have no excuses."

I winced. There went my back up defense. "I can't believe you asked my dad" I muttered. She cocked her head and reverted back to the puppy dog eyes. My resolve finally snapped. "Okay fine, I'll go." I said and was immediately hug tackled. "ITS GONNA BE SO FUN" she shrieked.

Oh god what had I gotten myself into?

Three nights later I found myself staring at my closet while Thalia pilfered through my drawers. "Hey Thals, can you read me the checklist again?" I called over my shoulder. She dropped the shirt she was holding and cocked her head "Don't you have memorized by now?" I just glared. After a 3 second stare down she groaned and grabbed my notebook.

"Sunscreen" she called. I glanced at the bed, "check."

"Hair ties" "check"

"Sunglasses" "check"

"Water bottle" "check"

"Condoms" "shut up"

"Cash" "check"

"Chapstick, mints, and hand sanitizer" "check, check, and check"

"Its like you're packing for the damn apocalypse" she muttered. "Yeah well don't come crying to me when you're all sunburnt and dehydrated" I teased. "Yeah whatever". I turned away and continued scanning my closet. "I still have no clue what I want to wear" I sighed. Thalia jumped up"I can dress you!" All I could do was pray for minimal damage as she started ripping various articles of clothing out of my closet.

A few minutes and plenty of destruction later, she pulled out a silver one piece swim suit she had bought me months ago and some high waisted black shorts. "Problem solved" she smiled at me victoriously, glancing at the clock. "And now that thats settled I better get back home. I'll be here at 9:00 with glitter." She announced, hugging me and saying a quick goodbye before grabbing her phone and skipping out of my room. As I began to pick up the mess she had made, I listened to her fading footsteps and a muffled greeting to my dad and step mom. Despite myself, I was a little excited for tomorrow.

-PERCY-

I had planned on doing absolutely nothing today. Honestly, I was pretty excited to have the day to just relax, but, sadly, the universe was not on my side. I woke up at 9:30 to a call from my friend Travis.

"Dude, I've got awesome news" he chattered excitedly. "It's 9:30 in the morning, Travis." I groaned. "Just listen to what I have to say before you get pissy." I conceded, "fine." I sat up and flicked on my light as he began. "So my boss got me and Connor 3 tickets to summer fest, and, since you'll be joining us at Goode in next month, we thought it would make a wicked welcome gift." I nearly flipped out of bed.

"Holy shit like summer fest today summer fest? Like the one I've been talking about for months?" Travis laughed on the other end of the phone, "Yeah man, that one. And you're getting there for free, so get your ass in gear, get dressed and we'll pick you up in an hour." I fumbled with the phone, "Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Yeah. Uh I'll see you then!" I stuttered. I ran downstairs and slid into the kitchen.

"MomTravisandConnorinvitedmetogotofreepressandtheyhaveafreeticketformeandeverythingandtheyllbehereinanhourcanIpleasego?" She snickered at my nonstop sentence. "Sure, but make sure to take some sunscreen and a water bottle." I screeched and crushed her in a hug. "Thank you thank you thank you" I sang and kissed her on the cheek before racing back upstairs. Holy shit was I excited.

-ANNABETH-

Thalia strutted into the bag check line at the festival, her black hair blowing slightly behind her shoulders, her boots striking the pavement powerfully, and her electric blue eyes shining with excitement. She looked like a punk masterpiece. I fidgeted with my backpack straps and trailed behind her, trying not to call any unwanted attention to myself. Usually, I was fine with big crowds or hectic situations because I felt like I could maintain some element of control, but as the security guard went through the contents of my bag, I realized how out of my element I was. This crowd was enormous and unpredictable. I didn't know anyones age or background, and most people were wearing very similar clothes (or lack thereof) so analyzing them based on their manner of dress was out of the question. My mind went into overdrive as I trotted after Thalia into the actual festival.

We wandered around looking at all the different stages and vendors, familiarizing ourselves with the layout of the park. Thalia stopped to grab ice-cream and I laughed as she fussed at the worker for forgetting her sprinkles. She simply glared at me in return.

At around 11:30 I got a text from Luke letting us know that he and Nico were arriving so we waded back through the sea of Hawaiian shirts, crop tops, and flash tats to the front gate. I scanned the wave of people entering before zeroing in on a tall blonde head and a shorter dark haired one. I stood on my toes and waved my arms hoping to catch their eye, but Thalia's method of screeching their names seemed to be most effective. They jogged over and I was immediately enveloped in a bone crushing hug.

"Luke I can't breathe" I choked, but he just laughed and squeezed me tighter. "Hows my favorite little braniac?" He asked, thankfully releasing me. I pulled Nico into a hug before he could escape "I'm doing pretty well." Nico groaned when I ruffled his hair. I looked up to see Luke sauntering up behind Thalia and plucking her phone out of her hand. "Luke I need that" she growled, jumping up trying to reach it. Luke just smiled and held it slightly out of her reach. He began to take selfies, and Nico and I laughed as we watched Thalia wrestle her phone away from him. "I really missed you guys" I giggled.

For the past two weeks Luke had been off in Europe on his last adventure before he had to leave for UCLA. Nico had gone on a trip to New York with his dad to go "experience the culture", which basically consisted of Hades dragging him around from art museum to art museum to fancy store to fancy restaurant etc. It really was not Nico's scene.

"You still have to tell us all about your trip" I reminded Nico. Luke had dutifully FaceTimed me every other night to tell me about all the architecture he was getting to see, but Nico only communicated by text and I had to text first. "Don't worry I took a bunch of pictures of the skyline and the different buildings for you" he reassured me. I smiled and squeezed his shoulders, "you know me too well" I laughed, pulling him forward to catch up to Luke and Thalia who were already quarreling up ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

-PERCY-

We barely made it in time for the first concert. First, the twins were late picking me up, then there was insane traffic on I-10, and then we decided stopping at McDonalds on the way was a good idea. Actually it kind of was a good idea: we were starving. Either way, I had to book it to make it to Plague Vendor. Connor stuck with me, but Travis split off, telling us he was going to find some "real music". If he skipped Plague Vendor to go see Dubstep I'm going to kill him.

The three of us are in a band together, so we should have pretty similar taste in music and for a while we did, but somewhere down the line Travis fell for all that Skrillex shit. Let's just say I'm not a fan. Don't get me wrong its fun to dance to and I don't mind hearing it in the background, but if you're going to dedicate your time to listening to music, I feel like you should listen to something original, not just a remix of other people's work. I dunno if someone took one of our songs, added some wub wubs to it and made more money off it than we did I'd be kinda mad. /div

Anyway, rant aside, Plague Vendor was great. I had forgotten how much I had missed live concerts. You see, for the first half of summer I was grounded. Now, before you go "Woooow Percy what did you do this time" I'd like to say that it wasn't my fault. Really. If it had been my fault, I would have been grounded for the rest of my life. It's a really long story and I don't really want to go into it now, but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough.

At the end of Plague Vendor, I told Travis I'd catch up with him later and ran off to go see White Denim. I meandered through the crowds of people. My feet sloshed in the mud and I tried to jump back to the concrete, but no one made a gap for me.

I sighed, not wanting to jostle my way in, and watched my feet sink into the mud as I made my way across the lawn. I started spinning my feet slightly to make mini mud angels as I walked. As I was wrapped up in my footprints, I failed to see the girl jogging backwards calling out to a friend. Well I mean I did see her, but only as I was falling backwards. Shit.

I looked up to see the girl still upright. Great. I'm the loser that fell into the mud. I started to apologize, but I was cut short by the sound of a familiar voice. "Hey Jackson" it sneered. I looked up to my right and lo and behold there was Chris McNamara. Even better. I exhaled and started to get up when a slender hand appeared in front of me. I looked up to see the girl who had run into. She was staring intently at me with startling grey eyes, almost as if she was analyzing me. I accepted her hand and pulled myself up.

"Thats awfully sweet of you, but Percy here can take care of himself." Chris addressed the girl. Her attention snapped to him with the same scrutinizing gaze. In a split second, her face softened and she giggled. "Oh don't worry about me" she smiled, snaking her arms around my waist. I stared at her not knowing what to say. "I'm Annabeth by the way" she continued. Chris seemed to be nearly as flustered as me.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't realize you were together" he stammered. _Neither did I,_ I thought. "No worries, it was so nice meeting you Chris, but _Percy_ and I better get going" she pulled my arm, walking away, and I stumbled behind her throwing. After Chris disappeared into the ground she halted and spun around to face me. "I'm Annabeth." I stared at her. She narrowed her eyes in response. "I'm sorry should I not have interfered? It seemed like you needed an out." I shook my head, "no that was actually really great, thank you. I'm Percy." I managed. "Yeah I got that" she rolled her eyes at me. "How did you know to do that?" I asked. She hesitated. "Well, I had already knocked you into the mud, and that guy seemed pretty condescending, so I figured embarrassing him while he tried to capitalize on your own humiliation might have been enough to undo the situation I got you into."

"You got that from maybe four seconds of conversation?" I gawked. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and nodded. _Damn she was good_.

-ANNABETH-

If Thalia was here she would be laughing at me. Not only had I knocked over some poor stranger, but I had inserted myself into what seemed to be a personal feud, and then freaked him out with my whole analyzing thing./

"Are you here with friends?" I asked, breaking the silence. He scratched his neck "uh yeah, I came with a couple guys but we split up so I could see White Denim." My eyes lit up "We're actually heading over there soon, if you want to come with" I offered. "Yeah that'd be cool" he smiled broadly at me. We walk I started to turn when suddenly a loud voice cut through the crowd.

"ANNIEEEEEEEE" It rang out "ANNIE WHERE ARE YOU?"

I grimaced bracing myself for impact. The voice drew closer, "THERE YOU ARE ANNIE I WAS SO WORRIED!" Luke bellowed. I smiled weakly as he wrapped me up in a stifling hug. Somewhere outside of Luke's grip, Percy coughed. Lukes eyes zeroed in on him. "Did you make a friend, Annie?" He asked, slightly loosening his grip. I took the opportunity to wriggle out.

"Uh yeah, Luke this is Percy." I said. Luke smiled and stuck his hand out, Percy shook it "You must be Annabeth's boyfriend." My eyes widened "nononononononono" we both spoke over each other. I laughed "No, we're just friends." Percy blinked at us and muttered "Oh. Uh sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Luke chuckled, "we get that a lot". Percy nodded knowingly. After a very short, yet exceedingly awkward silence, I faced Luke, "Percy was headed to the White Denim concert, so I invited him to come with us." Luke smirked and nodded his chin towards Percy, "So you're a hipster too?" I glared at him. "I am NOT a hipster" I huffed.

"Yeah whatever, Ms. I don't listen to any music unless its at least 10 years old or local" He started poking me, but I was not having it. "That doesn't make me a hipster." I growled and glanced behind me. "Right Percy?" I asked pointedly. He laughed, "actually I think that is kinda hipster-y". I rolled my eyes and stomped forward tossing my ponytail angrily over my shoulder. That was definitely not how I planned for that to go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Just a disclaimer, I don't own any PJO Characters (all credit to Rick Riordan). All of the bands in this story actually exist, and I really encourage you to look up the songs that are written into the story! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**

CHAPTER 3

-PERCY-

Luke wasn't all that bad. When I first took a look at him I was very apprehensive; I mean here I was, literally dragged through the mud, faced of with an old acquaintance, had a fake girlfriend for a hot second, got invited to hang out with said fake girlfriend, and then approached by her not-boyfriend who was wearing only a pair of burnt orange swim trunks and a fanny pack. Needless to say, I was the tiniest bit overwhelmed.

Once Annabeth had stormed off, I was stuck with him. We walked a few steps in silence before I attempted to fill the empty air, "So how do you two know each other?" He focused on her retreating figure, making sure not to lose sight of her in the crowd. "We grew up together, she's like family." He answered absent mindedly, still concentrating on Annabeth. When she ran up to a girl with black hair, the two hugged and Luke seemed to relax.

"Have you seen any bands yet today?" he asked me casually. I nodded, "I got here late so I've only gotten to say Plague Vendor. You see anyone yet?" As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and began scrolling, "Yeah we saw uh….. The Coathangers and Built to Spill." He turned off his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. "Sounds cool." He nodded, "Yeah Annie actually made a schedule of the bands we're supposed to go see and what stages they're playing at." I whistled, "thats smart."

We neared the spot where we had last seen Annabeth, and I scanned the crowd, trying to find her so she and Luke could start chatting and I wouldn't be forced to make small talk. I was never any good at it anyway. He found her before I did and waved me over. I awkwardly trailed behind him, quietly cursing when I noticed the small clump that they had joined and were now talking to. I debated just walking off, but, although introductions were awkward, having a group (even a shitty one) was better than trying to brave the festival alone. Gods I wish one of the Stolls was here.

Hesitantly I stepped forward, lining myself up with Luke and Annabeth. In all honesty, the introductions weren't that bad. Thalia seemed pretty chill and Nico was kinda shy. I had fun listening to their banter. The playful jabs came in a steady stream and no one seemed to be letting up. Behind us, Annabeth noticed a small clump forming near the stage.

"Let's get near the stage before a huge crowd shows up" she suggested. Nico cringed, and Thalia took in a sharp breath. "Actually, Nico and I were thinking about heading to see Children of Pop…" she half asked half stated. Annabeth narrowed her eyes for a moment and then sighed. "Go ahead" her shoulders dropped slightly. Thalia hugged her "Thank you Annie you're the best!"

Annabeth turned toward me and Luke "ok then, I guess its just the three of us". A long "uhhhhhhh" escaped him. "I was kinda hoping to see Children of Pop too, and since you made a friend…..." She rolled her eyes at him "Just go."

He smiled and dashed off calling out "You're the best!" over his shoulder, and left me alone with a somewhat ticked off Annabeth. I glanced at her wondering what to do with the situation. I hadn't noticed that much about her earlier since I had been so wrapped up in everything around me. She had blonde curly hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was tan and pretty fit. I refocused on the one thing I had noticed about her- her eyes. They were startlingly grey and very sharp, almost like a rolling storm.

"Percy?" her voice snapped me out of my little space out. "Sorry, I completely zoned out" I mumbled. She laughed. "I was just going to say that you've had mud on your forehead for the past thirty minutes and its starting to drive me crazy." Reaching out a hand to my temple she rubbed whatever bit of dirt that had been there off. This girl keeps catching me at my worst moments.

-ANNABETH-

I couldn't tell you why, but for some reason, I was really comfortable around Percy. After he stopped being so shy we had a nice time chatting about music. I learned that he plays guitar and sings and that he likes rock, which we have in common.

By the time White Denim came onstage, I was almost sad to end the conversation. Almost. I was pretty damn excited for the show, so I got over it.

The first song they played was Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah). I screamed and clapped as the first chords rang out and bobbed my head in time with the music, sing-yelling the words along with the rest of the band. The lights streaked through the onstage haze, and the bass rattled through my skin. I looked at Percy and laughed. He was flailing about, his arms swinging up and down by his sides while he bounced back and forth. His green eyes were shining. When he noticed my laughter he grabbed my wrists and tugged them side to side. My laughter rang out louder as I started to dance next to him.

The lead vocalist started singing:

 _From the moment we met, you could see that I was filled with desire_

 _Only one thing in common baby, but our love is pure fire_

 _As sure as the birds ought to sing_

 _I wouldn't ask you to change one thing_

 _So be yourself_

 _Try to have a good time_

 _Be yourself_

 _Try to have a_

 _Ha ha ha ha yeah_

I turned to percy and shook my ponytail in time with the ha's

 _Ha ha ha ha yeah yeah_

 _Ha ha ha ha yeah_

He started poking me on all the ha's, and I giggled.

 _Ha ha ha ha yeah yeah_

At this point we were a spaztic snickering mess. The rest of the concert wasn't much different. By the end my cheeks and throat hurt from smiling too much and singing at the top of my lungs.

I decided that Percy was a fantastic concert buddy, and we ended up hanging out for most of the day.

He blended in well with my friends and his hilarious dancing kept me smiling through the oppressive heat and exhaustion. At around seven, we split to see different concert, but first we exchanged numbers and I made him promise to call me when he got there the next day.

-PERCY-

I jogged to the tree where Travis, Connor, and I had agreed to meet. The two seemed vaguely annoyed. Travis cleared his throat "You know when we invited you, we kinda invited you to hang out with us for at least a little bit." I stuttered, "I'm really sorry guys, but remember that girl I texted you about?" They nodded "Well she ended up going to all the shows I wanted to go to, and she was really fun to hang out with and I guess I just lost track of time." Connor sighed, "And who is this mystery girl?" he asked me. "Her name is Annabeth"

Travis's eyebrows raised slightly. "Do you know her?" Connor glanced at Travis. "Does she go to Goode?" I pressed, confused by their reaction. "Nope" Connor shook his head, "I don't think I've ever heard of her."

My spirit fell just the slightest bit. I had really hoped she would be at school with me in a few weeks. It would be nice to have another friend besides the trouble twins.

"We should all hang out tomorrow!" I suggested. "You guys would really like her."

Travis smirked, "You go ahead and hang out with her tomorrow, I promised Connor I'd see some dubstep with him so I guess it works out." I tried to read his face, "You sure?" They both nodded. I was confused by the sudden change of heart, but I let it go. I was just happy I'd be able to hang out with my concert buddy again tomorrow.


End file.
